On one hand, Celtic presents itself as a club built on community, identity, history and belonging. It celebrates the passion of its supporters, the songs, the displays, the traditions and the global reach of the Celtic family. The club’s commercial machine is built around that emotional connection. Every new shirt, season-ticket campaign, European night and heritage product depends on supporters feeling that Celtic is not simply a football team, but part of who they are.
On the other hand, those same supporters are increasingly being treated as if they are an inconvenience, a hindrance, a headache, a thorn in the side of the board, as the enemy.
Fan bloggers, podcasters, vloggers, independent journalists, social-media creators and ordinary supporters who have spent years promoting the club are being pushed further and further away. Access to matches, interviews, training sessions, player appearances, club legends and official facilities is tightly controlled. Opportunities that were once available to independent fan media are now once again reserved exclusively for the club’s own platforms and traditional media organisations.
The commercial logic behind this is obvious. Celtic operates in a relatively small domestic market. It cannot compete financially with the Premier League, La Liga, the Bundesliga or the largest clubs in Europe. Every commercial opportunity matters. Every piece of content has potential value. Every interview, image, video and exclusive access opportunity can be used to drive traffic, subscriptions, sponsorship, advertising, merchandise sales and engagement with Celtic’s own digital channels.
That reality is understood by anyone who has worked in e-commerce or digital media. I have worked commercially online for around two decades [not OnlyFans!] and spent much of the past ten years in senior e-commerce roles. I have worked with limited budgets, stretched resources and demanding commercial targets. I have also worked in environments where funding was more plentiful. I understand the need to maximise revenue, protect intellectual property, build first-party audiences and make sure investment in content delivers a return.
What I cannot understand is the apparent belief that the best way to maximise Celtic’s commercial potential is to lock out the very people who have spent years creating content around the club – it is a commercial gold mine.
Control Is Not the Same as Strategy
There is nothing wrong with Celtic developing its own media operation. The club should have a strong website, a compelling app, an improved Celtic TV platform, a podcast network, a modern Celtic View and a first-class social-media operation. It should own and control its key commercial assets. It should be able to monetise premium interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and exclusive access. It should create content that generates income and strengthens the relationship between the club and its global support.
That is normal modern sports-business practice.
The problem arises when ownership becomes exclusionary. The club’s internal media operation should not have to exist at the expense of the wider Celtic content ecosystem. Indeed, it should be using that ecosystem to extend its reach, increase its output and deepen its relationship and engagement with supporters.
Celtic’s own media team, regardless of its talent and commitment, is limited by the same constraints faced by every media organisation. There are only so many staff available. They have a limited budget. There are only so many hours in the working day. A small number of employees cannot attend every event, research every story, interview every former player, produce every video, record every podcast and engage with every section of a global fan base.